Two of a Kind: Logan and Laura
by Andrew Fisher15
Summary: Laura, X-23, didn't get nearly enough screentime. This is picking up afterwards, with Logan and Laura becoming something of an odd family... a clone and the original.
1. Chapter 1

"_You're never gonna be alone._

_From this moment on,_

_If you ever feel like letting go,_

_I won't let you fall."_—Never Gonna Be Alone

* * *

Several days earlier…

"_Everyone keeps lookin' at that girl like she's broken, no hope. She ain't. Bent. Bent so far she looks broken, maybe. But no one who's broken wants that much to be a better person."-_Gambit

It was more awkward, even then when Marie needed him around. She had been a runaway. So had he, really. They had met in a bar, and almost been killed together the same tonight. There was something there, they could relate. After Liberty Island, she had been more like him, even, thanks to absorbing enough of his personality, thanks to her powers. Not enough to be a twin, but it had been like he had raised her, almost. They had that bond, people could see it immediately. Marie, the Rogue, was Logan's girl, and not in the dirty way.

This girl was different. Lying prone next to her on the grass, Logan was reminded again how grateful he should be to Charley, and Jean, and even Storm, for tolerating him so well. Scott… well, he was just a dick, regardless. This girl was a mini-version of him, but worse off than he had been at that age. At least, he hoped he hadn't been that badly off at 16...

"You hit two feet to the left." He said quietly, peering into the scope on his own AR-15. The girl silently reached up and adjusted the wind age on her rifle's scope. Fired again. Four hundred yards away, the pumpkin exploded, a spray of orange flying into the air. "Good shot, you did it." The girl didn't respond. Logan shifted a little, flicking a bold wolf spider off the sleeve of his leather jacket. It vanished off into the grass.

"Is this a skill I'll need frequently?" Laura asked neutrally, still staring through the scope. It had taken her two hours and nine bullets to achieve that shot, from set-up to pulling the trigger. Most people needed training courses that lasted a week or more. Logan wasn't sure if she was 'gifted' or most people were just idiots when it came to rifles…

"Probably not." Logan admitted. "I haven't."

"Did Xavier ask you to take me out of the mansion because I got in that fight?" Laura asked. Logan answered her question as bluntly as it was asked.

"Gambit said you felt like I was ignoring you, playing favorites with Rogue." Logan sighed, rubbing his head. He still wondered how he had spent years on the road, yet pretty much ended up with multiple kids acting like he was their dad. Laura fell silent, and it stretched on for a good thirty seconds before she finally spoke. She had the attitude of a kid that was awaiting some dreaded lecture.

"She never tried to kill you." Her eyes were still on the targets in the distance, but she hadn't racked the bolt to put a new round in. Logan froze for a second, taking that statement in. He had never raised kids, but he could pretty easily read the emotion behind that statement.

"Kid… I don't blame you for that." Logan told her. "So stop blamin' yourself." He looked at her, but she was still resolutely staring through the scope, like some answer to her life might be out there. Maybe it was. "I'm not tryin' to play favorites with Rogue over you. It's just how it is. I've known her for years."

"I know that." Laura said flatly, pulling back the bolt and chambering another round in her Remington 700, shifting her sights. Logan sighed inwardly. What were you supposed to do with kids when they were like this? Give 'em a hug, tell 'em it'll be fine, that you love them? He hadn't seen enough family movies to know for sure. Laura was even harder. Sometimes she would be as reserved and flat-toned as a soldier awaiting court-martial, and sometimes she talked closer to how a normal teenager would.

"I don't know what to do with you, a lot of the time." Logan said quietly. "Because… really, you **are** me, and I don't want you to be me." Laura didn't speak. "You're different, than Marie. I know her, I know she's going to be okay at the end of the day, even if I was in the ground. But you… you don't have anyone, but me. We're two of a kind. But the life I lived—I don't want that for you. I want you to have a better life than I had." He saw her grip tighten on the rifle's stock.

"I'm trying." She said quietly. "I… I don't want to be like this. I **want** to be more like Rogue, or Kitty… more normal. Not like…" Her voice trailed off. Logan glanced at her, out at the woods.

"It wouldn't kill you if you were a little more social, kid." He said. "But you're not them. You've walked through hell and back, and neither of them would still be alive if they had to go through what you've gone through." He saw a measure of satisfaction on her face at knowing that. Awkward silence resume for a moment, and Laura's rifle **boomed** again. Four hundred yards away, a used plastic bottle filled with water flew up into the air. He could see her thinking things through carefully, saw the question on her face before she turned and asked it.

"Did you bring me out here because you're leaving again?" She asked sharply. Logan smiled faintly.

"I have a small trip down south, in two weeks." He said. She scowled, looked away. "Chuck has someone coming to the mansion Thursday, 2:30. A lawyer. You need to be there."

"Why?" Laura snapped, adjusting the scope for a farther target.

"Adoption papers." Logan said offhandedly. "You're goin' with me on the trip, kid." She looked at him immediately, frozen for a moment.

"Adoption papers?" She repeated. He nodded.

"Yeah… I figured, we're family, so why not make it official?" Logan said. "Who knew, Chuck has some friends who are lawyers. But he needs us to sign some papers." She was quiet for a few moments, and he could see her mulling it over. The scowl that had been there a second before was gone, and she was almost smiling.

"Will you stop calling me 'kid' if I sign?" She asked.

"No." Logan said without hesitation. Laura faked irritation, but only for a moment. Logan sat up, shifting a crink out of his neck. That was the worst part about long range shooting—the cramps from being prone on a hillside for so long. Laura let go of her rifle and did the same, sitting on her knees. He glanced around, then at her. He wasn't cut out for this kind of stuff, but occasionally it was needed. If even a thieving Cajun started telling him he was dropping the ball… it was probably near crisis, Logan mused.

"I know I'm not perfect at shown' it… and it's been a long time… since I had something this close to a normal family…" Logan said slowly, looking the girl in the eyes. "But I do love ya, kid. " She paused again, looking straight at him. He could see her thinking, see her trying to decide what to say, deciding whether to be stoic, or react like a teenage girl.

The girl won out, and she abruptly hugged him, putting herself off-balance, with how she had been sitting. Logan smiled faintly, and hugged her back.

"I love you too." She finally said, a little awkwardly, her cheek on the front of his chest. "And… thank you. I… I'd like to have family." He patted her back once. It was a little awkward for him too, but he was looking forward to getting used to it, having a daughter. She pulled away, and there was a small smile on her face. He wasn't sure if that was a tear in the corner of one eye. Considering her, that was roughly the equivalent of Rogue or Kitty breaking down and crying with joy.

"So… are you actually going to shoot while we're here?" She asked wryly. Logan sighed, went prone, aimed, and fired three shots in three seconds. Off in the distance, three more plastic bottles were obliterated. Laura raised an eyebrow in an expression similar to the one Logan often wore. He chuckled a little. Teenagers were probably a lot harder to deal with when they had claws… but he was pretty sure he and Laura would be fine together.

* * *

A short ficlet inspired by that moment in "Target X" where X-23 is snooping around someone's room at the mansion, grabs a teddy bear, and rubs it on her cheek. She just didn't get enough time in that series—probably not elsewhere, and to be honest, I wasn't sure where to post this… there were about 3 sections that would've been fine.

Review if you liked it! And if you think it should be continued into a short ficlet, say so! I'm open if people want to read it.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm glad to see people liked the first part! Thanks for the reviews, and here's a second, turning this into a short story.

* * *

About nine days later…

"Are we in a hurry?" Laura asked mildly, putting a duffel bag in the vehicle's trunk. Logan preferred bikes, but with a passenger… no. The Dodge Charger was a stylish black, v8 engine, and upgraded with a large steel grill guard, along with bulletproof glass. Logan hadn't needed the bulletproof glass, but the mercenary whose hide he had saved had already installed it before giving said muscle car to Logan.

"Not sure." Logan admitted to the girl, loading a second weapon case. "But we're on a tighter schedule." He had had plans to take his new daughter to Atlanta, but a friend had called him…

"I checked the weather." Laura commented. "Along the border, and within a hundred miles, there will be plenty of snow."

"Yep." Logan said. He glanced over the car, mentally checking off that he had tested the fluids, changed the oil, checked the tires, and made sure the battery hadn't died from sitting around for a month. It wasn't very parental to be taking Laura into a situation, but he felt more eager, in his element. Laura seemed a little more focused, maybe better at ease. It was what both of them did. It was their lives.

"Packing for a while, huh?" Rogue asked wryly, walking into the garage. Laura glanced at her, nodded in greeting. Logan shrugged at her question, but was glad it wasn't Scott. He didn't quite appreciate the stash of weapons Logan kept at the mansion.

"Maybe the boy scout is rubbing off on me." Logan managed to joke, "be prepared." Rogue glanced at the open trunk, and raised an eyebrow in a very Wolverine-way.

"Is that a rifle case?" She asked. "You know they passed some strict gun control for New York earlier this year. A fifteen round pistol magazine is five years in prison." Logan waved at the rear of the vehicle

"They're dummy license plates, for any cop unlucky enough to pull us over." Logan said offhandedly. "They don't lead to me, or this place."

"That, and we could take care of any police before reinforcements showed." Laura said seriously, holding up one hand, but not extending her claws. Rogue nodded agreement to that. Logan double checked one more thing. They were ready.

"Time to go?" She asked.

"We're supposed to be waiting by the Canadian border in a few hours." Logan said. He smiled a little. "Keep outta trouble while we're gone, Marie." Rogue hugged him.

"You know me." She said. She paused, looking at Laura, who appeared a little uncertain herself. Rogue smiled a little oddly, like she saw some humor in the moment, then embraced the girl. Laura was frozen for a moment, but gingerly hugged her back.

"Have a good time, and watch out for Logan." Rogue said. "You two are quite the duo, you know?"

* * *

"So. We're away." Laura said. Logan nodded, shifted the gears, and accelerated onto the expressway. "You said you'd brief me in the car."

"Not much to brief." Logan commented. "Nice to see you and Marie gettin' along, though."

"She's not so bad." Laura said quietly. Logan wouldn't mention it, but he had been flat out relieved that Laura had rapidly started speaking and acting less like a weary soldier, and more like a teenager. "The 'southern gal' thing isn't as annoying, after you get used to it. So who is at the border?"

"Mallory Kane." Logan said. "And she's not quite there yet."

"So who's Mallory Kane?" Laura said. "What does she do?"

"Basically, same stuff as me, just not as suicidal." Logan said. "She's a former United States Marine. Joined when she was a little older than you, stayed for a few years, then went to private sector when she saw an opportunity."

"How'd you meet her?" Laura asked.

"A rescue that got bloody." Logan said, thinking back. "Some gang members kidnapped a boy from a well to do family. The dad wasn't dumb enough to think he'd get his son back alive just by paying… so he forked over half a million, and someone got a team together. It was me, Mallory, and a few others."

"Did you get the boy back?" Laura was interested. Logan shifted lanes, glancing over his shoulder, watching a police car for a moment. He shook his head.

"They had killed him an hour after the grab… nine years old, but they still shot him in the head. They had just kept him alive long enough to take proof of lifes for a few days." Logan said, falling quiet.

"They do that, a lot of the time." Laura said. "My mom sent me on a rescue once… the girl was lucky, still alive. So what did you do to the kidnappers?"

"What you think we did." Logan stated.

* * *

"You look nervous." Laura remarked, her lips twitching into a smirk. "You're used to traveling alone, aren't you?" Logan shrugged offhandedly.

"Mostly." He admitted. She was quiet for a moment.

"Me too." She said, looking at him, then out at the highway, at the bare trees and pines flashing by. "You've been doing it for longer than me, though."

"So, has Storm or Jean helped you decide on what to study, for a degree?" Logan asked. This was going to be a long drive. ..

"I want to be a fighter." Laura said without hesitation. "I was thinking women's MMA."

"What, professionally, for sports?" Logan asked. He should've guessed. Laura nodded.

"Rogue said you fought for money, though you only fought in bars." The girl said. "I want to go to tournaments. Travel. I'd be the best." Logan smiled.

"You'd kick ass." He said. Laura was quiet for a few minutes, but it was a better silence.

"So… what did you do… before Weapon X?" Laura asked carefully. "Did you… did you have a family?" Logan stared at the road ahead of them. He knew she would start asking sooner or later.

"What, no one said anything about me?" He said, a little gruffly, knowing full well he hadn't gone into the gory details of the past with his new daughter. He didn't want to think about the past. It brought too many mistakes back to live. Laura was looking at him carefully.

"Remy said that when it was time for me to know, you'd tell me." She said.

"Does it really matter?" Logan said, mentally tossing the question aside. It was best to keep your eyes on the road ahead—off the rear view mirror and the roadkill behind you… Laura fell silent, and they drove on with the only sound being the hum of the engine and the dulled sounds of the surrounding traffic.

Logan tried to get his mind off the forced conversation, and onto the destination, what they had ahead of them. It still gnawed at him… Mallory was always short as far as communication went, but for her to be tromping over the border-

"It does to me." Laura said quietly. Logan glanced over at her, the intent, serious look on her face. She had been trained as a killer since birth, but he saw the same youthful desire to please, and sympathy, that he had seen on many faces at the Xavier Institute.

"I appreciate it, kid." Logan said, taking her hand and squeezing it. "I just don't want to bring ghosts back right before a mission. Bad luck."

"You believe in luck?" Laura asked, looking a little amused. Logan chuckled.

"It's made the difference for me quite a few times."


	3. Chapter 3

_"You feel stuck on the outside, looking inside_  
_ Wishing this life wasn't your life_  
_ And you think you're damaged way beyond repair_  
_ Well you're not so far that I can't get to where you are"-_

"Invisible"

* * *

"Worried about the mission?" Laura asked. Logan shook his head, eyes still on the road. The little gps computer showed they were 86.7 miles from their destination. Outside, snow was falling, though not too hard.

"Thinking." Logan said shortly. Laura was quiet for a few minutes. Two claws popped out of her right hand and she inspected them, then they slid back into her hand, the slits healing and Laura licking the blood off the healed cut. Some people thought it was a weird fetish thing—Laura just did it because it was practical. You couldn't always be wiping blood on things, and sometimes doing so left a trail for people to follow, or DNA.

"You're thinking about me, you, and Mallory." Laura said, utterly certain. Logan glanced at her, but didn't comment. "You're wondering what it would be like. If Mallory was your wife, and we were a family."

"I think you're projecting." Logan said gruffly. Laura shrugged.

"Professor Xavier was teaching us about the Odyssey." Laura said. "In one of our classes."

"I read it once." Logan said shortly, his nylon black jacket whispering slightly as he shifted, stretched in his seat. "Long time ago."

"It opens on the island of Calypso, a Greek goddess." Laura said, in the air of someone thinking through a deep philosophic problem. "Odysseus is offered immortality, if he will stay with the goddess and be her lover."

"Yep, goddesses are a little more bold pursuing men." Logan remarked, the Charger fairly quiet as they turned off the expressway, onto a smaller road.

"But Odysseus refused. Because he had to go home—because who a person is is strongly linked to their home, their love, their family." Laura said, adjusting her seat back slightly, crossing her legs. Where she had gotten those odd military style boots, Logan didn't know. "For Odysseus to choose immortality, he would have lost his identity. Eternity would have been meaningless, because Odysseus wouldn't have been Odysseus. He would have been nothing, and had nothing."

"Good to know you're getting a quality education." Logan commented sarcastically. Laura sighed, started to talk, but Logan cut her off. "I get the point, kid. Believe me, I get it. I've gotten it for a long time."

"Still haven't solved it?" Laura asked. Logan looked exasperated.

"It ain't an easy problem to solve." He said. "No one's done it before. There aren't any answers, for people like us. Fighting is the closest answer I've gotten. It keeps me going.

Let me ask you—how many of the kids at the school could do better? Laura, in 80 years, you're not going to look a day over 30. And it will be the same, every decade after that. You're going to see your friends die, of age, in battle, accidents. You'll see nations change, and what you knew will pages in a history book, gone."

The padding inside car absorbed his outburst, and Laura was silent. He glanced at her after a minute. She was staring out the window, facing away from him. Regret crept up on him. It was too much for a kid. And there were no answers… none that he had found, anyway. Chuck was brilliant, that was for sure. But he doubted the Professor had anymore answers than anyone else.

"Do you even want to live?" Laura asked quietly. Seconds ticked by, as the trees and buildings whipped past them.

"I want a **reason** to live, kid, not just to keep going." Logan said. "That's a big part of why I adopted you. That's why I fight."

* * *

Two hours later they was pulling in front of the little diner. Laura wouldn't have called it grungy, but it wasn't stylish, either. Probably had a profit margin that barely supported the owner.

"You can drive if I need you too, right?" Logan asked. Laura nodded, looking around. He was feeling his mood rise a bit, and Laura looked more alert, sharper. They were in their natural element. "Good." Logan left the keys in the ignition. "Wait here. If things go bad, use your head." She nodded again, and Logan got out of the car, and strolled into the diner, sitting at the bar and waiting a good ten seconds before glancing around.

"What can I get you?" A waitress asked him.

"Coffee, please." Logan said. Mallory was in the corner booth to his left, her back to the wall, talking to a guy Logan didn't recognize.

"You're really not getting in the car, are you?" The man asked, sounding exasperated.

"No." Mallory said flatly.

Logan appreciated that he didn't have to strain to hear the conversation 10 feet away. He glanced over again, and Mallory's eyes met his for a fraction of a second, not long enough to give her 'friend' a hint. The waitress walked over to them, and set a cup of coffee down in front of the man, before walking off.

"You got any—" Mallory began, only to be cut short as the man threw the coffee in her face, smacked her, grabbed her head, hit it to the table, sending her to the floor. The guy had been good, Logan noted. He had been acting exhausted, annoyed, but not hostile, and had attacked quickly.

Logan grabbed the man by the shoulder just as he was swinging a blow at Mallory. The guy spun, punched him in the face, and recoiled in pain as his fist struck a metal jaw. Logan punched a straight, he blocked, and Logan hit him in the jaw with a hook. The man collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Mallory paused to frisk him, removing a compact Glock from a 'small of back' holster, before checking the pulse.

"Friend of yours?" Logan asked.

"We need to go." Mallory said. "You bring a car?"

"What do you think?" Logan sighed as they left the little diner. "Charger, it's unlocked." He walked over to the driver's side just as Mallory reached the passenger side, freezing when she saw Laura riding shotgun. "Backseat, Mal." Logan said. She complied. The engine roared to life, and Logan exited the parking lot with a little more speed that icey roads allowed most people.

"Mal, Laura. Laura, Mal." Logan said, the vehicle smoothly hitting 60 miles an hour, until a pothole jarred everything.

"Wow." Mallory said, sounding amused. "Mr. 'I'm the best there is at what I do' has a **kid** now?"

"I'm adopted." Laura said matter-of-factly.

"What's going on, Mal?" Logan said sharply. "That guy was a pro. Who'd you manage to piss off?"

"Unfortunately, my last job wasn't what it seemed." She sighed. Laura could see why Logan would like her. She had the self-assured demeanor of an accomplished fighter, and was remarkably beautiful for a woman in that line of work. Most women in military or police were... well, average, or ugly. Mallory was in shape, looked like she was solid enough to hold her own in a fist fight, and stunning, aside from a healing cut above her right eyebrow that was hidden with makeup.

"As in..?" Logan said impatiently. "You want my help, you talk, now."

"It's sad, how cliché it was." Mallory groaned. "I was on a protection detail, and as luck had it, someone figured out a route we were taking and blew our man away with a Barret .50. And guess who was supposed to be found dead in her hotel room with evidence she betrayed our protectee, and was then killed by the assassins to tie up loose ends?"

"You?" Laura asked mildly.

"Got it in one." Mallory said. "Problem was, a teammate was there to insure that I was found dead, except I won, and couldn't dispose of the body. So the Spanish police want me for murder, and now it seems my old boss has spread the word to American police that I'm a dangerous killer…"

"Would that be why I see a road block ahead?" Logan remarked. Mallory squinted at the far off cars, then grimaced.

"That might be for me, it might just be a sobriety checkpoint. I get out and meet you around?" Mallory proposed. Logan and Laura shook their heads.

"To close, they'd see and be on us." Laura said, looking ahead at the police. "If we turn around, they'll chase us. We go through."

"Only option." Logan agreed, slowing down a bit to buy them an extra few seconds. "Alright, we're a family. Got it?"

"Mallory's not old enough to be my mom!" Laura objected, to which Mallory embraced her and gave her a rasberry on the cheek, making Laura shriek with laughter and shove her away. They pulled up the police stop. Logan gave Laura a stern look and held up a hand for her to be quiet as he rolled the window down.

"What's up, officer?" Logan asked. State police, three of them. Visibly only armed with handguns, maybe a shotgun or ar-15 in a car. The guy tried to lean forward a bit, look past Logan, and another officer was walking around the side of the car. Laura was making idiotic teenage conversation with Mallory, but Logan could practically feel them both tensing.

"License please." The officer said. He was a typical cop. Probably mid-forties, pudgy, heavy build, and clean shaven. Logan reached for his wallet, taking his time with a fake ID.

"Mind tellin' me what this is about?" Logan asked, still holding his wallet, slowly opening it up. "Sobriety checkpoint, or…?" The officer scowled at him, glanced at his partner. Logan couldn't see, but he guessed a signal was exchanged, or maybe just a look. Maybe it was that Logan was asking questions. A fair amount of cops were good people. But most would cover for the cops that planted evidence, or went on power-trips and beat up citizens who didn't deserve it.

"Looking for a fugitive." The cop said. Logan handed over his driver's license, which was not an in-state license. A good fake ID wasn't hard to buy, though cops learned well how to tell fakes from real deals. But if you had a fake ID from another state, it helped your odds of slipping by. The cop glanced at Logan's fake license, and handed it back.

"Well, if we see anyone odd, we'll make sure to report it." Logan said, forcing a smile and adjusting his seat to indicate he was about to go. He glanced at Laura, who was still talking animatedly about a boy at school. "Ana, could you stop talking for just a minute?" He asked, sounding exasperated, before turning back to the officer. "Thanks for the heads up about the fugitive, hope you catch him."

"Ma'am, could I see some ID?" The officer said, looking past Logan, at Mallory. She smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, I forgot my purse at home." Mal said. The officer glanced at his clipboard again, then moved. Logan shifted the car and slammed on the gas as the officer was reaching for his sidearm. The engine roared, and they shot past the squad cars at dangerous speeds.

"That is what happens when you get made." Logan snapped. "Should've bleached your hair."

"I owe you." Mallory said gratefully, looking back as the squad cars swung onto the road, now a quarter mile behind them.

"Got that right." Logan said, glancing at his GPS. "Now we play evasion."

"Can we lose them?" Laura asked. Logan just shrugged, eyes focused on the road.

"Ask me again in five minutes."

* * *

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